The anti-Canada crowd in Pittsburgh believes that Sunday’s game-winning 41-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kenny Pickett to receiver George Pickens happened on a play that wasn’t called by the team’s embattled offensive coordinator. The evidence? Matt Canada didn’t celebrate the way others in the coaches’ box did.
Technically, the play wasn’t changed. But, frankly, Pickett changed enough of the play to dramatically alter it.
Via BehindTheSteelCurtain.com, Pickett explained to reporters earlier this week that he changed receiver George Pickens’s assignment.
“It was protection and the route,” Pickett said. “You know, they went [cover] zero. I want to make sure we protected and gave George the route. He went and made a great play. It was something we worked all week on. So it’s awesome when you put a lot of time into something in a crucial moment like that to win a divisional game. You go out there and you do it in a two-minute drill, it’s awesome.”
So, yes, Pickett sent Pickens on the “go” route, based on the all-out blitz. And, yes, it was consistent with what they had practiced.
Still, for those who are using this quote as evidence that Pickett didn’t change the play, he changed enough of it that he basically did. The route given to Pickens in the huddle didn’t entail heading for the end zone. Pickett altered the route that was called, based on the defense.
That said, he apparently was doing what he was expected to do, based on what they had done all week in practice. That’s the key. The most important aspect of the play was changed. But the change was consistent with the plan entering the game.
And, regardless, the fact that Canada didn’t act like Carl Spackler after completing his Cinderella story at Augusta doesn’t make jack squat.